Finding Life, Prosperity, and Honor

Proverbs 21:21 NIV

"Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor."

Jesus says that when wickedness grows in society loves grows cold (Matthew 34).  Why is this?  Wickedness is taking steps away from God, and God is love.  Our love is warmed only when we are close to God.

When a nation ceases to pursue righteousness,  the nation sees an increase in social ills and acceptance of those ills.  Life, prosperity, and honor begin to fade.  Anger and intolerance increase against those who try to live close to God, and at the same time, those who think they are close to God can fall in their own self-righteous behaviors.  There is a difference between condemnation and conviction.

Condemnation is the act of declaring something wrong without reservation.  Conviction is to convince someone of an error.  Condemnation leads to legal ramifications.  Convictions leads to a choice to change one's ways.  If you feel convicted, maybe there is room for change.  When you feel condemned, you feel as if you have to pay a price.  Jesus does not condemn.  He convicts.  He asks for change.  Sometimes it means facing our sins or having someone point out what God considers to be sin, and then we make the decision to accept it or walk away.  Remember, God is love and to walk away causes love to grow cold.  This also leads away from life, prosperity, and honor.

Let me put it this way.  As a Christian I believe homosexuality is a sin.  I am not judging but relaying truth from God's Word.  Because some are in this lifestyle, their immediate reaction is to label me as a homophobe and to deny God.  Please don't.  I cannot deal with homosexuality as a sin if I do not also deal with all areas of sexual sin - cohabitation, masturbation, fantasy (Matthew 5:28), pornography ... (feeling uncomfortable yet).  As David Kinnaman says sexual sin is complex and should be dealt with that way.

We live in a country steeped in sin - divorce, abortion, cheating, stealing, lying, and the list goes on.  Sin disrupts relationships and steals life, prosperity, and honor.  If I am condemning, love grows colder.  How do we balance this while sharing the love of Jesus Christ?  How do we share true love?   How so we reconcile this without seeming judgmental?

As a Christian,  I have the responsibility to pursue righteousness and love.  I am to do right as I show love.  To do so, I have to make sure my house is in order.  I can easily point out the sins of others if it does not reveal my own personal struggles.  I can easily point out sin if it helps me feel better about myself.  I must pursue righteousness (God and His will) first.  Then everything else is added.

Through God I experience true love, and I do not have to seek it in the wrong places.  Through God I experience love and can share love.  In Christ is where I experience life, prosperity, and honor.  I do not want to sit idle and watch people march into hell.  I want to love people enough to start a conversation and to share the message of salvation - a message that frees people from the power of sin so they also can find life, prosperity, and honor.  To act like sin is not a problem is to turn my back on my country, my community, my neighbors, my friends, and even my family.  To be silent is to stop being a voice for Christ.  How will anyone hear without a voice?  Pursue righteousness and love and see where it leads you today.